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Comments
Front end is OK, if a bit busy. I see a bit of C-class in the way the grill jutts out and those lights are neat but that chrome moustache is a bit much...
The back end is a big ol mess. Looks like something that would have come out in the 90's. Very soft, like it should be on a Deville or DTS.
You read it before I did.
Also, you've repeated that about 12 times, but the Eco scores poorly, and the plain Malibu beat the Legacy by just 2 points, while the upscale Legacy beat the Eco by a dozen points. So the Legacys had a higher average.
Not to mention, even if we limit the discussion to the entry models the Accord smoked them both by a wide margin.
As usual, so much relevant was just left out of the discussion here. I firmly believe that had I not mentioned it, it would have never made it here at all.
What is your opinion that the base Malibu tested better than the base Legacy?
The price is ambitious, but so it the equipment. Leather standard? Was that necessary? 17" rims, too? Auto only is probably OK, that's the volume sale anyway.
I'm worried. Malibu Eco was also priced at $26k, and we all know how that turned out.
$5k more than an Eco will limit sales to rabid diesel fans in America. All 5 of them.
One other tidbit I read on the Chevy site.
Clean diesels generate at least 90% less Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) and particulate emissions when compared to previous-generation diesels.
It all starts with a 2.0L turbocharged clean diesel engine designed in Italy, built in Germany and installed in the Cruze at our factory in Lordstown, Ohio.
Same way in the Toyota threads. When times are bad folks like xlu were bashing away, as things got better he vanished. Textbook trolling.
When the tsunami hit one guy said they deserved it, the posts were so tasteless the hosts had to delete them.
Both here and there I share news links and discuss NEWS, which is what this thread should be about, not decades old stereotypes and biases.
up's got a point, the Koreans and Japanese have yet to sort out a diesel that meets CARB emissions.
I know my dad had to replace a set of rear pads on his Accord around 30k. He's at 90k now and I don't know if he's had to replace them again. He hasn't anything about it, so I'll have to ask him next time I talk to him.
Oh, I will add to my previous post about GM that I did like many of the full size GM cars my grandpa had except for his Roadmaster (It was to soft, to slow, and I though it was ugly). They were good cars, not something I would want, but they did seem good overall for those who liked that type of car and IMO were better than what Chrysler and Ford offered at the time for the most part.
Wait, so George W. Bush bailed out GM in order to protect the unions?
You forget there were TWO bailouts, in quick succession, by two different Presidents, from two different parties. They were protecting a lot of people that were campaign contributors and to you-know-where with the general American taxpayer.
The Cruze in Europe uses a 1.7L diesel with a 6 sp manual. They do offer the 2.0 with a manual in Australia. I'm sure there is some sort of reason for North America not offering a manual. I'm guessing the 7 potential buyers are already filtering restaurant grease into their 30 year old Rabbits.
I have to laugh with your reasoning. There probably is a specialized group interested in diesel with manual. On the other hand, would offering a manual attract some of the potential purchasers--I suspect the VW folks would not deign to lower their image by buying a Chevrolet. But more likely as a marketing factor, what is the
gasfuel mileage with a manual compared to automatic and what is the EPA problems to be overcome.2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
sandman has been driving several 20k+ mile rental Dodge vans and says they've been holding up surprisingly well:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef2c24d/29966#MSG29966
I'd like to see a full redesign of their minivan. The refresh made it better, but ground-up it could be truly great, and Toyota has been cost cutting on the interior and Honda's just ugly.
I told you once, I told you a million times, don't exaggerate!
There are only 5 of them.
In the case of the last BMW 3-series lineup (E-9x), the 335d (diesel) was only offered as an automatic, most likely due to the low sales expectations of a manual transmission model. Lots of BMW owners/potential owners like to carp about the low availability of manual 3-series, but if they sold well, dealer lots would be full of them (which, of course, they aren't). If BMW couldn't sell many gas-powered 3 series with manuals.... Well, one gets the idea...
You forget there were TWO bailouts, in quick succession, by two different Presidents, from two different parties. They were protecting a lot of people that were campaign contributors and to you-know-where with the general American taxpayer.
My opinion: Funny how opinions are so heavily influenced by political viewpoints, even to the point where the facts no longer matter.
That's why I said "I suspect". I also believe I said that I recall reading this but didn't remember from where. I do believe that I adequately qualified my statements. And you are also ignoring a bunch of other makes that ARE much younger buyers as we saw in the data. Even one year can be significant, as the numbers represent the aggregate of a large population of buyers. I was also talking about GM as a whole, and we did see that if you include Buick and Caddy the overall GM buyer age is much older than most other mainstream makes. So my overall point was accurate. We can nitpick Chevy against SOME other makes - Chevy is only a "bit" older. But as a general rule, GM *does* have quite a bit older buyers. I think we've established that, and therefore the point that this had been a ridiculous post was a bit.....inaccurate.
I agree with everybody here that the Eco Malibu debuting first was a mistake
The entire "light hybrid" was a mistake - the Eco Malibu is just the rewarmed manifestation of that technology...
Was that because of the Nader era where GM was criticized for being one of the military industrial complex companies that were so evil during the 70s? 80? GM had a GNP 9th in the world among countries IIRC. So they were hated just for being big.
For me, it started with my best friend's brand new '74 Vega GT which began to rust within 3 years of being new (in Southern California!). Then the engine destructed at about 70K miles.
It continued with my SIL's Chevy Citation that was always in the shop.
It endured through the '90's era of bland, big clone sedans of huge mediocrity.
It was the lack of any competitive smaller premium sedans available (closest thing being the Catera, which was not very close), even though GM was the world's largest manufacturer, it couldn't even have a full line of vehicles that went into the segments that I was interested in.
Then it was the dozen or so brands/divisions in the 00's that still didn't have a decent smaller car, yet had so many duplicative trucks, SUVs, convertible trucks, divisional trucks, blingmobiles, etc. that you could wipe the road with them.
Overlay all of that with decades (literally) of poor reliability reports from CR and other publications. Overlay THAT with the general union atmosphere, including tons of workers doing nothing and getting paid for it. I knew that for the buyers of GM products, they were paying for a bunch of people to sit and be unproductive.
Add on top of all of this the inane commercials that sang along telling me how if I bought a Chevrolet I was being patriotic and like hot dogs and apple pie. The stupidity of the company's marketing was SO obvious it was insulting.
D3 diesel cars haven't exactly had a good history, or the same track record that non-domestic diesels have had. It's an understandable concern.
On that, we agree. You heard it here!
Frankly, I hate the sound/smell of a diesel, myself.
The surprise is that GM still went that way even after seeing how the full hybrid Prius clobbered the Civic mild hybrid.
Some diesels are loud outside, but inside the cabins you barely hear them.
It's too bad you (probably) don't remember the decade-long "See the USA..." campaign. It was excellent. I gotta say, "Oh What a Feeling!", with people jumping in the air, never struck me as having been written by a marketing major from Mensa.
I've never heard anything bad about it either, and to be fair, supposedly the 1980 and later 5.7 Diesel V-8's were better (or not as bad, at least?) as the 1978-79 models.
As for trucks, I dunno...I've heard people gripe about those old 6.2's that they used to put in GM trucks in the 80's...product of Detroit Diesel, or something like that? I've also heard griping about the later 6.5 turbodiesel, and remember my uncle's bried experience with one. He bought a '94 GMC used in late 1996, with that engine, and it seemed like it was going back to the dealer every other weekend because some sensor or something-or-other would fail on it. Never any problems with the engine or transmission itself, but just all that extraneous stuff that can go bad and make it act up.
I've even heard people gripe about the latest Duramax, which I think comes from Isuzu?
But, I don't know how well an occasional gripe heard or read here and there translates to real-world reliability.
I do have a vague recollection of "See the USA" and that one seems pretty good to me - better than the recent slogans.
Yes, Toyota has had some humdingers. Remember "Get your hands on a Toyota....and You'll Never Let Go?". I'm not sure I even know what their current slogan is.
For GM, I like "We are Professional Grade" (although I'm not sure I believe that about the product in a lot of cases). What is Caddy's slogan, or Buick's?
I remember awhile back, they used that song "Everyday People" by Sly and the Family Stone. Some people in one of my Mopar clubs picked up on it and started putting in their sig line "The last thing I want is a car for everyday people". And one used to put "I'd rather have a Real 'Ota than one of them toy ones."
For some reason the one that sticks in my mind, but might have been local, was a jingle from the 80's that asked the question "What Will You Do with all the Money You Save?" And, in the summer they'd turn it into "Would You Believe It's Christmas I-in Jooo-ly?" to advertise their summer deals.
Yeah, there's no reason for saying something like that. But...I have seen a thing or two not a whole lot better than that, right here from one particular poster and even a descriptive word written by him that I haven't seen in print or heard in thirty years (not the one you're thinking of, though).
Dinah Shore, belting out that tune....
Man, I feel old...
D3 diesel cars haven't exactly had a good history, or the same track record that non-domestic diesels have had. It's an understandable concern.
Once again, showing my age, but anyone that lived through the OPEC oil embargo period and saw what Detroit did in its attempt to create suitable Diesel engines would think twice before buying a domestic-made diesel automobile equipped with a home-grown Diesel engine.
I might still buy one, but I wouldn't want to be leading the pack...
I'm sure that Uplanderguy would agree with that statement.
That engine was introduced 35 years ago this year, busiris.
I've used this analogy before, but that'd be like not buying a new '65 Mustang because you had a bad new Model A, or not buying a new Accord because your '78 CVCC had big engine troubles and the tops of the front fenders rusted out a la Vegas.
Big difference!
To think that anyone would simply ignore a previous bad (and expensive) experience seems a bit irrational to me.
Just like if I have a bad experience in a restaurant, I might go back sometime later, but I'm going to give it much more thought than dining at a restaurant where I've never had anything but a superior experience.
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/07/2014-chevrolet-cruze-td-diesel-chicago-2013/
The price doesn't even include freight, ouch.
Cruze TD will be the name.
I got a GM Card flyer today...reminding me that they 'topped off' my current savings to $2K from whatever it was, last month or so. The only two vehicles I can't use that money on? Spark and Camaro ZL-1.
I still feel great when I hear Dinah sing that song... Guess I'm there with you on the age?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkzGqzRLq4g
Less emphatic singing but great giant picture of a '53 as she walks to the performance screen... Full length version.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WK9tfnXMiw
1961 but no "See the USA". It's a tour of Cobo in Detroit of several 61 Chevies as she sings her way through a theme song of "Chevy is going your way."
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/64-eco-d-cruze-diesel/11380-cruze-diesel-link-che- vrolets-media-site-engine-details.html
Bad: timing belt (really?)
Good: runs on B20 biodiesel (VW only runs on B5)
Some states got ticked off my bucket list in a 60s Cutlass Supreme, the old '53 Buick, probably my mom's 60s Buick wagons and maybe even in her 60s GMC pickup.
Seems a stretch to expect a timing belt to go 100K, at least in my experience.
I would be more surprised if GM said it was perfect and no tuning was required. It took BMW quite a while for iDrive to get where it is now....
GM, nimble? Who'd a thunk it?